Wireless voice and data communications systems generally comprise multiple-access systems which are capable of supporting communication with a plurality of devices by sharing available system resources (e.g. bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of Radio Access Technologies (RATs) that share available system resources among devices include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, GSM/GPRS systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Many of these RATs currently coexist in wireless communications systems, thus requiring ongoing support for each of the multiple RATs. Newer and more flexible technologies, such as LTE based technologies, are able to support a wide range of legacy applications. While it is generally desirable to reduce the cost of overall network maintenance by minimising the number of supported RATs within a network, network operators must generally continue to implement legacy RATs to provide services to sufficiently wide range of devices.
A market experiencing ongoing expansion is that of machine to machine communications, referred to as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) in ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and Machine-Type Communications (MTC) in 3GPP. MTC involves the automated communication between mechanical or electronic devices, enabling networked machines to exchange information and perform actions without the manual assistance of humans. MTC applications include smart metering, commercial fleet tracking, and so forth.
Many MTC devices of the prior art are currently targeted at low-end (e.g. low average revenue per user, low data rate) applications that can be handled adequately by GSM/GPRS networks. Owing to the low cost of these MTC devices and the good coverage of GSM/GPRS, there has been very little motivation for MTC device suppliers to use modules that support a full LTE radio interface. Therefore, as more MTC devices of this type are deployed in wireless communication networks, there becomes an increased reliance on the existing GSM/GPRS networks.
Thus, this increased reliance on GSM/GPRS networks will cost network operators not only in terms of maintaining multiple RATs, but it will also prevent operators efficiently utilising their spectrum given the suboptimal spectrum efficiency of GSM/GPRS.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and system for machine type communication.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.